The invention relates generally to medical devices and procedures, including, for example, a medical device for percutaneously accessing a biological body, and disrupting tissue within the biological body.
Known medical devices are configured to access percutaneously a vertebra, an intervertebral disc, or other areas of a spine to perform a variety of different medical procedures. Some known medical devices are configured to remove tissue from within the interior of a vertebra or intervertebral disc. Other known medical devices are configured to provide cutting means to tear, disrupt and/or loosen tissue within a vertebra or intervertebral disc.
In some medical procedures, a medical device used for disrupting tissue can be difficult to maneuver with the biological body. For example, it may be desirable to rotate a device while it is disposed within a biological body. Such rotation, however, may be difficult for the physician to perform. For example, it may be difficult for a physician to repeatedly twist his/her arm to rotate the medical device within a biological body. In addition, in some medical procedures the device used to disrupt tissue may need to be repeatedly removed from the biological body and reinserted potentially damaging the integrity of the biological body.
Thus, a need exists for an apparatus and method for disrupting tissue, such as tissue within an intervertebral disc or a vertebra, where the apparatus can be expanded and collapsed, and/or rotated and/or maneuvered within the intervertebral disc or vertebra without repeated insertion and removal of the apparatus.